CSW POLL: Removal of Jerry Lewis as MDA Telethon Host

The Muscular Dystrophy Association's 2011 Telethon was to be the last for perennial host Jerry Lewis.


However- due to reasons unknown as mentioned here at CSW and every other news outlet- the MDA choose to remove Mr. Lewis from his last telethon- which will air on 150 television stations in America Sunday night.


So I've made a poll on the subject- and welcome your vote on this in the list of polls found scrolled-down on the right side of this blog.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: No Jobs Created in America in August 2011

That's right...


According to this ASSOCIATED PRESS story via MyWays News- the American (non-) economy created NO new jobs in August.

Fuel prices- food prices keep rising- unemployment figures are manipulated so we don't have a clear picture of just how many jobless are out there- and the government continues to spend BILLIONS with the war in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq.


Oops- sorry- the "recession (Depression)" ENDED in 2009...

My bad!

Lawsuit Brought in Clay County MO Medical Helicopter Crash

The husband of the patient killed in the crash of the Lifenet medical helicopter in Clay County last Friday has sued several entities associated with the helicopter service- according to this story in The KANSAS CITY (MO) STAR.

Victor Tacoronte’s wife Terry was being flown by Lifenet from the hospital in Bethany to Liberty Hospital when the aircraft crashed near the Clay County Regional airport near Mosby.

The helicopter- reportedly low on fuel before the crash- was going to refuel at that airport.

Mr. Tacoronte's lawsuit alleges that the operators of the medical helicopter service was "negligent" allowing the aircraft to run out of fuel and that the service's operator "didn’t have a policy in place for transporting patients with adequate fuel reserves" states the KCS story.


Frankly- I find it shocking that medical helicopters sent on patient transfers to distant medical facilities do NOT begin their flights with full fuel tanks!

Missourians Will Pay For Insurance Industry's Costly State Disasters

Like "American" oil and energy companies- Missourians will soon see a rise in their insurance premiums to pay for this years' costly natural disasters.

The SPRINGFIELD (MO) NEWS-LEADER reports that residents in our state will "likely see a small increase in their homeowner's insurance premiums" because of events like the Mississippi and Missouri river flooding and tornadoes that damaged St. Louis and Joplin.


They have to keep their profits and dividends up you know....

Central States News: Flood Damage To Omaha-Area Interstate Could Take A Year To Repair

The images shown here (click on for full size) are of Interstate 680 as it crosses the north part of Metro Omaha into Iowa north of Council Bluffs.

The Missouri River flooding has destroyed the Interstate's roadbed- and officials estimate it could take a year- or more- the fully repair that stretch of freeway- according to the story in the OMAHA (NE) WORLD-HERALD.


Note that Interstate 29 is STILL closed near Hamburg and again north of Council Bluffs in Iowa by the receeding Missouri River flooding.

Central States News: Oklahoma City Wildfire Burns At Least A Dozen Structures

Fire crews in Oklahoma City are keeping a wary eye on more forecasted hot- windy conditions today after wildfires burned at least 12 structures in the eastern and northeastern parts of the Oklahoma capitol city Tuesday.

The Oklahoma City OKLAHOMAN reports that at least 4 injuries occurred in the fires that started just after noon on Tuesday- and continued to burn into early Wednesday.

MetroRegion Kansas City News: Sedalia MO Bank Robbed

Another regional bank robbery Monday afternoon...

The SEDALIA (MO) DEMOCRAT reports that a male entered the U.S. Bank on 4th Street about 3:15 p.m. and handed a teller a holdup note.

The SD story says the man's note threatened a weapon- but no weapon was displayed.

Out of Control: Mayor James' Son "Ticketed" After New Incident

Kyle James- son of KC-MO Mayor Sylvester James- apparently was accused of assaulting a woman last Thursday on The Plaza- according to this story in The KANSAS CITY (MO) STAR.

This is the 2nd time in a month that Kyle James has had a run-in with the law- the first (reported) incident taking place at the Power & Light entertainment district downtown.


Heh- the last Mayor- Funkhouser- had his wife- now the new mayor has his son for HIS albatross....

SHAWNEE DISPATCH: Remembering Monticello Township's History

Long before being annexed by the cities of Shawnee and Lenexa- there was the Monticello Township that covered a considerable area of northern Johnson County KS.

Heck- I even remember their fire department being dispatched on calls in the 1970's!

The SHAWNEE DISPATCH has a nice story on the historic township that was established in the mid-19th Century and didn't totally disappear until annexations by established JoCo cities until 2006.

Rochester (NY?) Police Arrest Woman in Her Yard Videoing Traffic Stop

Courtesy of KC Checkpoint- the following video is of a woman who was taking video from her own front yard of a traffic stop of "her friend" in Rochester and I can only assume the one in New York.

She's arrested by 1 of the 3 police officers there- allegedly for something "she said before starting" the camera.

Oddly- the guy they made the traffic stop on was let go.

Hurricane Irene's Death Toll Reaches 35

At least 35 people have died from the effects of former Hurricane Irene from Southeast to Northeast America.

A screen-capture of the scene caught by a live camera near New York City's Times Square later Saturday night.

Residents in New York state and Vermont are battling record flooding from the copious rains that Irene produced- and too many of the dead were caught in raging floodwaters- according to this ASSOCIATED PRESS story via MyWay News.

Man Admits 2010 Killing of 7-11 Store Clerk in Southeast KC-MO

In the early morning hours of March 17 2011- 2 males entered the 7-11 store at Bannister and James A. Reed Roads to rob the establishment.

During the robbery- one of the males murdered the clerk- Gurpreet “Tony” Singh.

Suspect Phillip D. Martin admitted he killed 35-year-old Mr. Singh this morning- according to The KANSAS CITY (MO) STAR.

Martin is to be sentenced for the cold-blooded murder in November.

Independence MO To Raise Sales Taxes Again Around Independence Center

What "Recession (Depression)?"

Governments everywhere are raising property and sales taxes to satisfy theirs and corporations' need to increase revenues and profits while citizens scrape by with job uncertainties- reduced income and rising prices for virtually everything.

Rant over ... now the City of Independence is set to again raise the sales taxes around both the new Events Center and the Independence shopping center area in order to pay off bonds that built the former.

The area is called a "Community Improvement District (CID)" and the "existing 0.5-percent CID sales tax" is apparently not enough during this "recession" that reportedly ended 2 years ago to pay off the bonds issued to build the Events Center.

So the area establishment recently voted to tack-on and ADDITIONAL quarter-cent sales tax to what patrons of businesses in that area are already paying- according to the story in the INDEPENDENCE-BLUE SPRINGS-GRAIN VALLEY EXAMINER.

The new sales tax increase is said to take effect in a year. 

I noticed The EXAMINER's story didn't bother to mention just how much in total the new sales taxes would be (10%?)- but I'm sure they didn't want to scare even more shoppers away from that heavily-taxpayer-subsidized shopping/entertainment area.

CSW BREAKING: Wall Collapse At Old Prison Traps 1 in Leavenworth

A Lifeflight medical helicopter is about to land at Fort Leavenworth- where one person is reportedly trapped in a wall collapse.

According to The LEAVENWORTH (KS) TIMES- the incident is at the old U.S. Disciplinary Barracks on the southwest portion of the federal prison grounds in the northern part of the city where some sort of building renovation was taking place.

The victim- reportedly a male- is said by other media sources to be in "stable condition."

PARKVILLE LUMINARY: Nadia Pflaum Attacks TV News Hype

Watching the Hurricane Irene coverage on the various TV news channels made me realize how utterly over-hyped the medium has become.

It seems the networks fall over each other to see how they can outdo the others on forecasting Armageddon- be it man-made or natural events/disasters.

The editorializing by so-called "reporters" in the field made me think the networks had somehow hired master-degreed disaster experts and meteorologists.

Gee folks- can you PLEASE report factually what's going on around you?

Of course when the worst doesn't happen- all the talking heads gush on just how lucky we/they were and DO NOT second guess our decisions- blah- blah- blah.


All this leads me to the reason for this post: a story in The PARKVILLE (MO) LUMINARY written by former PITCH reporter Nadia Pflaum.

Ms. Pflaum rails against the sensationalized coverage of Kansas City violence and Parkville's 'Great Flood of 2011' and how neither city has blood- or water- flowing down their streets. 

House Burns in South-Central KC-MO Overnight

An elderly woman is homeless but uninjured after fire gutted her house in south Kansas City MO early Sunday morning.

Five companies of the KC-MO Fire department responded at 3:34 a.m. to the fire that was reported at 82nd Street and Locust.

Flames were showing when the first fire department pumper arrived at 3:38 a.m. and using at least 2 handlines- fire crews controlled the flames at 3:48 a.m..

No firefighter injuries were reported and the home was a total loss according to reports from the scene.